Optimal entanglement-assisted discrimination of quantum measurements

Abstract: We investigate optimal discrimination between two projective single-qubit measurements in a scenario where the measurement can be performed only once. We consider general setting involving a tunable fraction of inconclusive outcomes and we prove that the optimal discrimination strategy requires an entangled probe state for any nonzero rate of inconclusive outcomes. We experimentally implement this optimal discrimination strategy for projective measurements on polarization states of single photons. Our setup involves a real-time electrooptical feed-forward loop which allows us to fully harness the benefits of entanglement in discrimination of quantum measurements. The experimental data clearly demonstrate the advantage of entanglement-based discrimination strategy as compared to unentangled single-qubit probes.